Replacing the softener in a Cedarburg home
Cedarburg Light and Water does not soften the supply, so when an old softener stops keeping up, 21 to 24 grain water goes straight to your taps. There is no softer city water underneath to fall back on.
Call (262) 829-5961Mon to Fri, 7am to 5pmThe signs in a Cedarburg kitchen and bath
Spots and film come back on glasses, faucets and the shower, because that is what hard water leaves behind. It also leaves scale inside the water heater, out of sight.
When those marks return in a home that has a softener, the unit by your main line is no longer doing its one job, and on unsoftened city water nothing else is doing it.
Nothing upstream softens it in the meantime
Because the utility does not soften the public supply, nothing upstream changes the water while you decide. Without a working softener, the faucet and the water heater both get the published 21 to 24 grains.
City house or Town well: where the new number comes from
On a city connection, the new softener starts from the utility's published 21 to 24 grains and the people living in the house today. The old unit's setting does not carry over.
For a Town of Cedarburg house on its own well, the starting point is your lab report, or the hardness the plumber measures before the work.
The swap, start to finish
The plumbing contractor disconnects and lifts out the old softener. The new softener's two tanks take its place, the bypass is plumbed, the drain line is connected through its air gap, and the kitchen sink gets its reverse-osmosis faucet.
Then the water at your tap is retested, as often as it takes, until it reads zero hardness.
Common questions
My softener quit. How hard is the water I'm getting now?
On a city connection, roughly what the utility publishes: 21 to 24 grains. The supply itself is not softened, so nothing upstream is taking the edge off.
What changes for a Town of Cedarburg well house?
Only the starting number. In place of the utility's range, your well's lab report, or the plumber's first reading, sets the size. The swap itself is the same.
Does the new softener have to go where the old one was?
Its place is set by the main line and the nearest drain and outlet, and that is often the old one's spot. If you would rather it sat somewhere else, raise it on the call.